Annoying glue and finishing.

Is it just with me or do you guys also 'find' glue on your projects
while applying the finish. Every single time. I end up having to
scrape areas and re-applying little areas. It doesn't effect the
finish quality because I usually 0000 steel wool everything and apply
several more coats, but man it's annoying. i know there is special UV
active glue that you can use, but I haven't bothered to try it.
Can't be just me.?.

I know that it's kind of time-consuming, but there are a couple of
techniques that help:
Pre-finishing the pieces helps a lot, even if it's not the full finish job.
The time-consuming part here is keeping the finish off the areas that will
get glued, and suggestion 2 helps there too. But just a thin coat or two on
the show faces can help to keep the glue from penetrating.
Even better is careful masking around the joints. The time you spend doing
this is well, well repaid by the ease of clean-up. Seems like a pain in the
ass, and sounds kind of anal-retentive, but you'd be surprised at how well
things come out if you do a careful job of it.
Tom

Not just you, but I've gotten much better at avoiding it. I pay a lot
of attention to my glue applying, and am constantly checking my hands
to make sure I haven't got any on them, and if something drips I stop
in my tracks and take care of it right that instant.
But when the inevitable happens, I wet sand the area right in the
middle of applying the finish/stain. That way I don't miss it like I
might if I were going back to fix it and then see it again in the
middle of putting on the next coat. It's also easier to tell whether
you've sanded it enough, as the spot just disappears when you've done
enough. I don't know how scraping would go with it wet.
-Kevin

Wunnerful stuff.
Shows you where you screwed the pooch AFTER IT'S TOO LATE.
--
We either make ourselves happy or miserable.
The amount of work is the same.
-Carlos Castaneda, mystic and author (1925-1998)
-------

Not just you! But as you gather more experience this becomes less of a
problem. You learn to look for possible problems that can lead to this and
you learn to take certain little precautions.
While it is better to apply too much glue than not enough for strength it
creates more work while cleaning up squeeze out.
One little thing I have learned to do is not wear long sleeve shirts during
glue up.....Often your sleeve can drag through wet glue and later smear
across something else...
I try to evenly spread glue with an acid brush to lay out a smoother and
more consistent layer of glue to minimize squeeze out which may get
transferred to other areas. Remember if you coat the entire surface with a
thin layer of glue you will not have glue starvation. Simply squirting out
a bead and letting the union spread the glue in the joint will/can lead to
squeeze out and glue starvation.
I try to always do a thorough sanding after glue up and keeping a close eye
on the results of the sanding as I go will show spots that may have gotten
glue one them unexpectedly.
Last, you can wipe the project down with mineral spirits which will
evaporate relatively quickly and will typically reveal the stray glue spots
they you see when finishing.

This is not exactly what you posted but seems worth mentioning here.
In case anyone missed it, on a recent episode of "Ask This Old House"
they showed a neat trick. They used a plastic soda straw to scoop up
squeezed out glue from an inside right angle joint. After you pick up
the unwanted glue you cut off the straw and you can use it again.
The trick wouldn't be needed if we were more careful in applying the
glue in the firstplace.
Joe G

Just do a wipe down with mineral spirits and it will show dry spots
where ever you have any glue. I do this as a matter of course when
doing my final sanding on any fine piece.
Unlike "Nom" who puts brads in everything and always wipes down his
squeeze out, I always let the squeeze out dry for a half an hour and
scrape it off. The other trick is to just pay special attention when
gluing to not get it on your hands, keep a damp rag tp keep your hands
clean and minimize the glue spots.
wrote:

I do this also after final sanding.. I just put some on a paper towel
and go.. It seems to clean the surface better than a tack cloth and
will highlight any missed small dents/scratches/imperfections in the
wood as well as glue stains..

Nahm floods the shit ouf ot the glue, ending up with enough residue
all over the wood to keep his polyurinestain and stains from
sticking/soaking in. I never could figure that one out. They must
build several units on the set and have someone experienced glue up
the one they ruin with stains and such, huh? ;)

Ditto. And it's even easier after prefinishing.
The other trick is to just pay special attention when

--
We either make ourselves happy or miserable.
The amount of work is the same.
-Carlos Castaneda, mystic and author (1925-1998)
-------

I've tried "taping the joints" countless times and generally end up
spending more time removing little blue bits of tape (now firmly glued
to the project by the squeeze out) from nooks and crannies before
finishing, then I did in building the project.
In short, I try to practice glue economy in the first place ... then
ditto on letting it dry, or almost dry, and using a chisel to remove any
squeeze out.
After all, the presence of squeeze out means you used too damn much glue ...

But it also means you know you didn't use too little. I've had the same
problem with blue tape, but I still use that method, and I also do the
pre-finishing thing too; both of them can be helpful. Sometimes I don't even
bother and use the card scraper after the glue has set, or even right after
it's squeezed out, followed by a vigorous wipe with a damp cloth. It kinda
depends on how big the glue-up is, the shapes and accessibility of the
surfaces, and what kind of wood I'm using and what kind of finish I intend to
apply. So yeah, it depends. :-)

--
"Our beer goes through thousands of quality Czechs every day."
(From a Shiner Bock billboard I saw in Austin some years ago)

Yeah, I'll bet you're using Titebond III and since that shit ain't cheap you're
getting all frugal and efficient with the stuff (you know, like a girly man)
instead of slopping it on there and shootin' in some brads like a real man.

--
"Our beer goes through thousands of quality Czechs every day."
(From a Shiner Bock billboard I saw in Austin some years ago)

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